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33 Comments

There is no point getting the XS if it's usb media playback capability is so poor. I'm not playing online with this thing so the wireless would do just fine. Might as well save $20 and get the $79 one.Reply

"and is expected to cost lower than the Roku 2 HD"Isn't it "expected to cost less than"? Otherwise, good review. Though I don't care much for media players like that. Full blown HTPC all the way for me! :DReply

I noticed that they had a couple new software revisions out since last year, and most of the criticisms in your initial review were of the software, either stability/compatibility bugs or the software.

I was just wondering if these fixes have made the difference in turning it from a "wait and watch" recommendation to something a little more positive.Reply

We have been waiting for the HD audio dropout bug to be fixed. So, for local media, it still remains wait and watch.

For online streaming, well, the Roku 2 has a better UI compared to the Boxee Box (no unnecessary distractions in the interface). But, technology wise, if online streaming is all you need and you are not put off by the price, the Boxee Box is worth the purchase.Reply

You need to know about the MyMedia local streaming channel, which lets you watch your videos on any Roku device by installing the channel and running a small server program on your home computer. Quality is excellent, as expected, you can get the highest quality the Roku is capable of and speed will be better than anything because it's on your home network, not over the internet. It also plays music and displays photos. The only significant downside for video is that you do often need to re-encode to one of the supported formats, but that's to be expected: http://forums.roku.com/viewtopic.php?t=25955Reply

The approach seems very similar to the one taken by Plex (which I already mentioned in the review). Plex seems to transcode, but MyMedia doesn't seem to (as far as I can see). Roku 2's native support is abysmal (No MPEG-2 / MPEG-4 / DivX / XVid support? Almost all SD media is in one of those codecs).

If you have the necessity to play local media, I suggest getting a cheap Seagate media player or Patriot Box Office (often found for < $50 on the deal sites). I would never recommend transcoding and/or re-encoding of existing content.Reply

Can't say I disagree, but if you have a Roku and you want to use it for local media, it is probably the best available solution, and it works great if you have your videos in the right format. You can automate the pre-transcoding by setting up Handbrake to convert every video file that shows up in a designated folder:http://forums.roku.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=36...Reply

I've owned the Roku2 and returned it simply because the OS is slow, especially if you try to launch a Netflix 1080p video. I really wanted to like it and sell my ATV2 but alas, this product while offering more features, just isn't as well polished as the ATV2.Reply

My belief is that any single device solution will always end up with a bad user experience in one department or the other. Good Blu-ray with DLNA will have bad experience with respect to local media playback. (Rudimentary DLNA profile support would imply that a majority of the user's media is rendered unsupported).Reply

Revue doesn't have the special gaming remote or 1080p/DD+5.1 Netflix , but it has a host of other features.. In the end, it is going to be horses for courses.. The device I would recommend depends on the end user's usage scenario. If 1080p/DD+5.1 Netflix and casual gaming are not in your radar (i.e, just ordinary 720p Netflix will cut it for you), there is no need go with the Roku 2.Reply

No, not really.. there are lots of limitations wrt the browser in the Revue and it is not a very great experience. I would suggest just using a laptop for your purpose (maybe a old one repurposed as HTPC, or just build a HTPC -- it is very easy to get satisfied wrt online media with HTPCs.. It is codec configuration which is the most difficult part of the HTPC experience)Reply

:) I saw that myself in the Wireshark traces (they even reach out to their servers when you start playing Angry Birds).. Then, I realized there are no popular online streamers which don't do that.. Boxee Box does something similar too.. Reply

This SoC was probably built for the sub-$100 'smartphones' for the developing markets (it has only ARM11 as the main processor, while the $400 smartphones probably have Cortex-A8 or Cortex-A9s). Since Mediatek and other Taiwanese companies have the sub-$100 smartphone market covered, Broadcom probably had to shop this SoC around for other applications like the Roku 2.. Broadcom PR wasn't very forthcoming with info about this SoC..Reply

How's it compare to "WD TV Live +"? i've concluded that WD doesn't put enough advertising dollars into the review stream since it seems to be ignored in spite of supporting so many different file formats for local/LAN streaming. No on-line gaming, but the media formats it supports without transcoding still seems to dwarf other options.Reply

I only use it for Netflix in the bedroom, and for that it serves its purpose pretty well. I did get the XS model though, and was really disappointed that they yanked support for MKV containers. When I ordered it, I actually checked that it supported matroska, but when it arrived days later I discovered that the information I had read was out-of-date. They actually had supported formats listed in two different locations on their site, and I just happened to look at the old one. :-/

I tend to rip dvds to a format that my ps3 supports, and the roku plays those back perfectly fine. However, I was planning on watching fan-subbed anime using the roku, but the lack of MKV support blew that plan out of the water.Reply

I have two Roku SMP's. All you have to do is scroll down the page to where it states something like skip this step and away you go. It's small (intentionally) but it is there. Or you can call customer service and they will set up an account for you without a credit card. I've never had a problem setting up my boxes and my new Roku 2 XS is my third Roku. It's a great player that in simple terms 'just works.' I tried out the new WDTV and the latest Sony just recently and they both failed that test. The WDTV had too many issues to list and the Sony wouldn't remember my network from day to day. The Roku has an open SDK so many developers are working on it. Bugs get fixed in short order nad new channels are added. Don't let the CC issue deter you from a great streaming media player.Reply